As the title clearly suggests, BILLY JACK GOES TO WASHINGTON is a remake of the Jimmy Stewart film- only with a bit more kick... The prostitution of the Constitution is beautifully summed up at one point when one of the thugs working for one of the politicians who has auctioned off his seat to the highest bidder says, "Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered." Although Laughlin seems a bit TOO laid back in the early scenes, looking like he's about to nod off at a presidential debate, he DOES eventually get to doff his boots and kick some ***. (In an odd little scene near the end of the movie, Dolores Taylor congratulates Billy Jack for not "taking his boots off" during the course of events. It's an odd observation because not only does HE take off his boots to kick some ***, but SHE does, too- literally.) The message Laughlin's trying to get across- about the built-in uncertainties of using nuclear power- are still valid today (look at GE's Fukushima meltdown, if nothing else). Billy Jack has always been the Patron Saint of Lost Causes, which is one of the things that makes the character so enduring: we're ALWAYS going to be at the mercy of the 1%; but at least Laughlin stood up and said something that most of the spineless cowards in Hollywood wouldn't DARE. As for the movie, Billy Jack does his on-the-level best, but Bernie Sanders (or Jimmy Stewart) he ain't: he literally collapses during his filibuster and has to be rushed to the hospital (where it's touch-and-go for a while). Laughlin's Passion Play still resonates, and his AIM was always right on target. Greg Palast would've been proud.
Review of Billy Jack Goes to Washington
